Pyongyang, January 25 (KCNA) -- The Seoul Central District Court recently staged a trial for Rev. Han Sang Ryol, who visited Pyongyang last year, and sentenced him to five-year jail and five-year suspension of qualifications.

Commenting on this fact, a news analyst of the DPRK newspaper Rodong Sinmun Tuesday says:

It is a violent encroachment upon justice and conscience of a human being and a wanton violation of the nation's desire for the country's reunification.

Han Sang Ryol is a patriot as he visited Pyongyang, unable to see idle the reality of the inter-Korean relations inching close to the brink of a war and determined to dedicate himself to national unity and reunification.

He never served as a "tool" of somebody but acted of his own patriotic will to work for reunification.

It is self-evident that call for national harmony and reunification and opposition to foreign forces' domination and interference can never be "admiration and sympathy" with somebody.

Han's deeds can never be incriminated as they were prompted by the people's desire and demand for improved north-south relations, peace and reunification.

Reunification means patriotism and justice, and those working for it should be praised as a patriot.

The south Korean authorities should repeal the heavy penalty imposed upon Rev. Han at once and set him free without condition. They should also abolish the "National Security Law" at an early date, a fascist law obstructive to the development of free reunification movement and the process of reconciliation between the north and the south.